Word – Is it possible to insert citations in Microsoft Word by their tag name or any other shortcut

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I am using Microsoft Word 2013/2016 to write a thesis with 100s of references. It is very hard to find individual citations to insert them from the drop down menu list found at 'References' > 'Citations & Bibliography' > 'Insert Citation'.

Is there any way that I can insert my stored document citations by using their tag name (e.g. Doc14), or for that matter, is there any alternative method rather than using the drop down menu list?

Best Answer

Your question suggests that you know the tag name for the citation you want to insert.

If that is the case, then you can insert a citation field manually as follows. Let's say the tag name is Doc14

Use ctrl-F9 (or cmd-F9 or fn-cmd-F9 on Mac, depending on your keyboard setup) to insert a pair of the special field code braces, so you see

{  }

Between the braces, type "CITATION " followed by the tag name, so you end up with

{ CITATION Doc14 }

Select the field, and press F9 to update it.

NB, this is is not quite the same way that Word uses to insert a CITATION field. Word inserts something called an "sdt", which contains a { CITATION } field but which arguably makes it harder to modify the field.

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